The More We Get Together
by Just.Plain.Obsessive
Summary: ... the happier we'll be. Ah, the thrills and kills of middle school life. The whole gang is attending Obata Middle School, and boy, are they in for a year of fun! Pairings: L/Light, Mello/Matt and all other canon pairings.
1. Light chan and Tickle Fights

**Hi!! This is Carrie... and Audilee (-sigh-). We were all of the sudden hit with an amazing idea (okay, it was Carrie who got trampled with it, and **_**we**_** think it is amazing.) So... here it is!**

**And not to insult your intelligence or anything, but I want to make sure you know who is who:**

**Mail Jeevas- Matt**

**Mihael Keehl- Mello**

**Nate River- Near**

**Kiyomi- Takada**

**Disclaimer: Everything that shouldn't belong to us, doesn't belong to us.**

**Alright, enjoy!**

Light narrowed his eyes at the clock on the wall that almost seemed to slow down every time he would check the time. His head throbbed as he tapped his foot in time with the ticking of the second hand. Three seconds, two seconds, one second, and… ah. The bell rang out through the halls of Tsugumi Obata Middle School loudly.

The screeching rung in Light's ears and he smiled satisfied, at his desk. His professor glared at him, and he let a smirk plaster his face with cockiness. The day was over. He could go home and… and do whatever he did when he got there. Nothing. He smiled again to himself. He had the life of a God.

A flash of blond clouded his vision and he narrowed his eyes once again.

Well, maybe not _exactly_ the life of a God.

"Light-kun, Light-kun!! Misa Misa missed you! She had to sit all the way over theeeeere because of the mean teacher." Misa pointed to the side of the classroom opposite of Light.

"I know," he grumbled, trying to hide his snicker.

She pouted. "I wasn't even talking to you to loudly!"

But she had been, Light confirmed by replaying what had happened in his mind. He smiled brightly at her. "Of course you weren't. If you hurry and get your things from your locker I'll carry your books for you." Misa was gone before he could say another word.

Now it wasn't a race against the clock, it was a race against how fast Misa could move. Light shot up from his seat and started running for the door grabbing his books at the same time. He pushed through the throngs of teenagers, trying to reach his locker and leave the building before Misa caught up with him.

As his locker came into view, his heart sank. There was a crowd of giggling girls standing right in front of it. Light stopped running and sighed before pushing his hair out of his eyes. He walked up to the girl who looked to be the leader and placed his hand on another locker, right next to her head.

Light gave the acne-induced teenager the brightest smile he could muster. She blushed and looked as though she was going to melt right on the spot. He said breathlessly, "Could you manage to move right over there?" He gestured with his head toward Misa's locker where he knew Misa was threatening to beat up a football player for trying to flirt with her. "I would really appreciate it. I need to get out of here…" The girl nodded and signaled for her groupies to move to where Light had gestured.

It was good to be him.

Light hastily turned the dial on his locker and threw his school supplies into his pack. He checked off things in his head: _math binder, Japanese textbook, English notebook, and science project. _He heaved the bag onto his right shoulder before taking one last look, wistfully at his spotless locker.

Light sometimes wished he could just crawl into it and sleep. It might be cramped, but it sure would be safe. Enough.

The young teenager sighed and pressed his head against his locker as he heard Misa call his name in her shrill voice. He glanced nervously towards her locker only to make eye contact with the girl he had been "flirting" with. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged at the girl. She smiled, getting his signal, and yelled, "Takada!!"

A girl with short, black hair flying in her face appeared from behind a nearby corner and grabbed Misa's arm. "Hey Misa…" she said faking enthusiasm, "there is something really, really cool in the bathroom. Come on…" She started dragging the blond towards the girls' restroom.

"Okay! Bye bye Light-kun!!" Misa yelled to Light. He rolled his eyes and turned to watch Kiyomi. She brushed her fingers along her hairline.

Light turned and ran. With students, air, and unidentified fragrances flying past him, he made it to his bus. On time. With no Misa.

He trudged up the steep steps leading to the rows and rows of seats on the bus. He started walking towards the back, searching for an open seat. "Thank you Kiyomi…" Light muttered to himself as he sat down in the first open seat, which, unfortunately, was with Nate River.

"Hi Nate." He said as enthusiastically as he could.

Nate took a deep breath and glared at Light. The white haired boy was sitting with his head in between his knees, looking out the window. His small, slim features were distorted with disgust. "Listen, Yagami. I don't like you. At all. Keep that in mind." And on that note, he went back to what he was doing, which was staring at out the window.

Light inched away slowly, trying not to provoke the albino genius.

The two hadn't gotten along since… well, ever. They had been in class together when they were just in grade school and Nate had always been alone. He was a loner until he got to middle school. The school was split into cliques. Everyone knew it, and didn't like it, but no one would ever do anything about it.

"Hey, Near, why don't you go sit with Mello today?" a helpful voice said from the seat next to him. Light looked up gratefully to find whom the voice came from.

His eyes met with a deep, onyx pair completely unlike his own. Empty, the pair of eyes were empty, void of emotion. The boy's facial features twisted into a smirk. When Light, still shocked that this… this _nerd_ would get him out of his awful position, realized who exactly it was speaking, he smiled.

L. Light's favorite little geek. Well, the only one of them who ever dared to talk to him in an _almost_ friendly manor. He was the epitome of the school's population of geniuses. Funny thing is though, his social life was almost better than Light's, and a billion times better than Misa's.

Near looked up at L, and his face, once apathetic, grinned. "Sure L."

He stood and stalked down the isle, only to throw himself into 'Mello's' seat, who Light knew as Mihael Keehl. The loud blond boy screamed in protest and tried to push the smaller boy out of the seat. Nate stayed put.

L had 'nicknames' for his best friends, which was so weird that it was funny. They all went by the names in class, at lunch, and pretty much everywhere. It really confused the… _slower_ teachers. The other teachers had just started using them too. And dear God, if you weren't in their little posse of geniuses and tried to use the nicknames, your face would meet the cold, dirty water of the toilets in the boys bathroom as soon as the next morning. Mihael would make sure of it.

Takada swore they were in some crazy, ridiculous cult of geniuses. If they were, Light would have been in it by now. He scoffed.

L moved to sit down next to Light. He brought his knees to his chest and put his thumb between his soft lips. "Hey."

"Hi."

L pulled a dictionary out of his heavy looking backpack and began to read it upside-down, oblivious to the expression on Light's face.

Light didn't even want to know. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out his scratch-free iPod and tuned out the world. That is, he tuned out the world until L nudged him in the side.

"I know you seem to be comfortable, but I need to get off the bus. We have arrived at my stop," L said unemotionally.

Light took a second to consider what L was saying. It always took him a moment to think after coming out of a music-induced trance. He realized that it was time for L to leave when poked him again in the side. "Oh," he said as he stood up quickly to let L slip out of the seat.

L turned to Light and smiled warmly. It was the sincerest smile Light had ever seen on L's face. Or, more correctly, any of the geniuses faces. "Goodbye, I hope Light-chan has a good evening." With that, L turned and made his way off of the bus, closely followed by Nate and Mihael.

As Light watched L disappear into his home, he had the smallest feeling of butterflies in his stomach. He sighed and sat down with his cheeks painted a soft pink.

Meanwhile the lovely sight of his friend Mail, sitting on the plump, leather couch in their living room, Nintendo DS in hand, and a cigarette in his mouth greeted L. L dropped his bag haughtily by the door and let out a groan. Mello and Near trudged in after him, doing to same. Even Mello was silent as the three teenagers walked into the living room.

"Hey Matt." L greeted, walking to the kitchen to get a slice of chocolate cake before Mello would get it. Mello and chocolate was like dogs and mailmen. "Feeling better?"

"Some." Matt said after a pause. The red-head let out a growl and was immediately consumed in whichever game he was playing on that particular day. L rolled his eyes. He knew not to disturb Queen Matt when he was playing one of his games. It's one of life's many lessons that you learn when you live with another three orphaned boys. Well, another three orphaned boys like these three.

The teenagers living at Wammy's House, as Mello had warmly named it after arriving here, were not normal teenagers. Their legal guardian, the inventor Quillish Wammy, only took on the best, the brightest. L even gave him a nickname, too, Watari. And he _always _referred to his three best friends and adoptive father by the names he had given them.

"Hello, L." Watari greeted him with a smile. He was always out to do whatever he could for the boys. "After you study what are you planning on doing??"

"Possibly training my parrot," L said briefly, before disappearing from the kitchen to retrieve his backpack from the foyer. He would have _a lot_ of time to train his parrot. He only had homework and studying to do for four subjects. It would take him an hour. Tops. Sometimes he wished there was more to do than just go to school, study, and train his newly acquired pet of the week.

He stopped along the way to listen to Mello and Matt arguing. For a brilliant couple the two boys had some of the stupidest arguments. Things like who forgot to put the cap on the toothpaste and who ate the last piece of chocolate always got the two going.

"… and I can't kiss you right now, Matt!" Mello shrieked pulling away from Matt's lock on his wrist.

"And why not?" Matt whined, putting the game he had been playing with one hand down and glaring at Mello. L let out a small snicker. Mello was the only one Matt would ever put his games down for.

"You're sick! I could get meningitis if I kissed your filthy mouth!" Mello was extremely hyper paranoid about contracting sicknesses. A missed day of school for him was utter blasphemy. He hated being sick.

Matt smirked and even L could feel his eyes rake over Mello's leather-clad body. "You know what? I don't feel sick anymore!" he exclaimed. Of course Matt didn't feel sick anymore, it wasn't doing anything for him. This morning, when it had been, he obviously hadn't been thinking about how it would affect him later in the day.

Mello and Near rolled their eyes. Near had been watching the ordeal from a corner in the room, playing with a train set. Matt pulled Mello onto his lap and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Mello pouted.

L smirked and climbed the steps adorning the foyer to his bedroom.

Of course, because he had been the first one there, L had gotten to choose his room. It was the most spacious room in the house. Like all teenagers with a normal IQ, L loved his room. He was always either there or at school.

When L walked into the sanctuary of his room, he put his backpack on the bed and smiled. For that moment, as he threw himself onto his soft bed, he was content. He was content with who he was, with what he was doing, with everything. It made him happy. It only lasted for a moment though, before he was dumping out the contents of his backpack and getting to work.

As L was so thoroughly enjoying his evening, Light was not having quite as much luck.

As soon as Light had walked through the door he had been bombarded with questions about how school was going and who he had talked to and sat with at lunch today by his mom. Oh, he did love her, yes. She was just a little bit _too_ obsessive compulsive for his tastes. Even as a fourteen year old, he knew it was definitely not polite what she did. And it got on his nerves.

After successfully storming up to his room avoiding his little sister, Sayu, he started his schoolwork. His classes were easy, even though he was in the advanced versions. His class work was a breeze, and his homework was even easy for him to do. Teacher's made homework easier for students who would need to ask questions. It was just a perk of not being one of those students, for him.

He flew through his homework and started reading some of the novels he had brought home from the library. His mother insisted that he buy his books, but he liked the thought of people reading the books he read before and after him. And sometimes he would find interesting things in the books he rented, such as notes or bookmarks.

As he lay with his head off of his bed, looking at the world around him in an upside-down perspective there was a knock on his door. He groaned but got up to unlock his deadbolt-ed door, he used it to keep Misa out, who would randomly show up at his house in random intervals. His mother just loved the idea of them as a couple just as much as it made Light want to puke.

To Light's surprise, it was Kiyomi who stood outside his door holding a…. cellphone? in his face. "You need to break up with her-"

"Kiyooooooomiiiiii…"

"Now."

Light took the phone and motioned for the teenage girl to follow him into his room. He sat in his desk chair, and she sat down on his bed, making herself comfortable with his books. As she started reading _his_ books, he dialed Misa's cellphone number.

The phone rung twice before an earsplitting scream sounded throughout the room. "Yes, hello Misa," Light said warily. He was tired of being greeted that way. It happened every time he called.

"Light-kuuun!! Misa Misa loves yoooooou!!" she screeched. It could be heard from anywhere in the room. Even Kiyomi was covering her ears.

"I'm okay. I need to talk to you, though," he said quietly. It wouldn't be a sad thing for hi, breaking up with her. He just was too much of a nice person to make her so sad. He knew she would be crushed.

Light could almost here the pout in her voice. "What's wrong? Is Light-kun not happy with Misa Misa…?"

He just couldn't do it. There was no way. Of course he had no _actual_ feelings for her, but you didn't need those to make a relationship work! Did you…? "No, everything is great!" he feigned his enthusiasm. "I just wanted to tell you that I couldn't go out with you tomorrow night. I'm eating dinner at Kiyomi's…"

"You know how I feel about _her._" The way Misa said 'her' was obvious disapproval in their strong friendship. She was not only as annoying as one can get, she was protective and—dare Light say it? Rather bitchy.

"I know. There is nothing going on between us. Honestly. We are friends… f-r-i-e-n-d-s," he spelled it out. "We are like siblings."

"Siblings?"

"She's like my sister." Light felt like he had been repeating this for years to Misa.

"But Light-kun, she isn't your sister," Misa whined.

Light took a book and hit himself in the head a few times. "Misa, I have a call waiting. I need to go."

"Bye-bye Light-kun!!"

Light grunted and hung up before turning to Takada. She smirked at him. "You don't even like her, but man, you are _whipped_." He rolled his eyes and flung himself on top of her. "Ouch! Get off!"

He laughed and tickled her sides, before sitting up and getting off of the bed. Kiyomi and Light had been friends with each other since they were babies. There had been hopes and dreams of them being a couple from their mothers at one time, but those things had disappeared long ago. After the incident where the two of them kissed and Light threw up afterwards, there really was no hope.

Actually Light had never been attracted to anyone, let alone Kiyomi. He figured it was late blooming, and Takada figured he was asexual. He would have been fine with either one of the two outcomes.

"Light!!" Sayu screamed up the stairs. "Dinner!!"

Light turned to Kiyomi. "Would you like to eat with us?" he asked politely. His friend was a regular attendee of the Yagami's dinner table. She really was like his sister.

"Of course, _Light-chan_."

He hit himself with the book again at the reminder, and she laughed and chased him down the stairs.

**Review!! We will try to update soon!**


	2. Paperclips of Doom and the Works

**Disclaimer: Uh, we don't own anything that we shouldn't own. 'Cept the paperclip story. Carrie owns that.**

Light tried to figure out where his oh-so-comfortable body rest had disappeared to just moments ago. The first three periods of the school day had exhausted him to pieces. He squinted one eye open looking for his best friend, Takada, who was suddenly nowhere to be seen. Light pouted and went back to doing what he had been doing five minutes ago _before_ he decided to try and take a nap on his friend in the middle of lunch hour, he took a bite of his peanut butter sandwich.

Kiyomi Takada snickered behind her hand as she watched her best friend glance around in confusion. She knew what he was doing; he was looking for somebody to blame on her sudden disappearance. Oh, how she loved his weird, obsessive quirks.

Suddenly, the very person Light should have been blaming huffed to get her attention. She glared at him and his perfectly manicured blond locks through the harsh light of the cafeteria. "So, you know that there is possible love potential here. I mean, just look at the two of them; they are, like, _made_ for each other!" Mihael exclaimed.

Kiyomi sighed. "I see it, but there is no way that they would ever actually get together. They are perfect, but they clash. I bet that L has some weird thing about being in charge of his relationships, but Light is way too stubborn to go along with that."

"What makes you think that about L?" Mihael questioned with an amused expression on his face.

"Mello," she used the nickname no one else was aloud to. "He just screams obsessive compulsive…" Kiyomi took another look at the teenager with unruly black locks. "Obviously," she finished with a grin.

Mello smiled back, agreeing with her statement. "We just have to get them to see that they are in love with each other."

"I'm not sure that they are in love yet. They have barely spoken two words to each other," she pointed out, sadly. Kiyomi knew the boys would be great together. From what little time she had spent with L, and all of the hours and hours she had spent with Light, she had come to this conclusion. Even before Mello had shoved Light's face in the dirt for calling L a "doo-doo pie," they had been nice to each other.

Mello huffed again, but this time he was louder. "We will make it happen. It has to. Call me tonight; we can come up with a plan. The first thing we need to do, however, is to get rid of Misa." Both his and Kiyomi's eyes lit up at this realization.

Mello shot Kiyomi another smile before handing here his number. She tucked the scrap of paper she gave him safely into her back pocket. He continued to his table and snatched L's strawberry milk. L whined in protest, but Mello kept on moving towards his target.

Mello stalked towards Misa, with the carton of milk hidden behind his back. He weaved his way through the trashcans and ended up right behind the bubbling, babbling girl. Mello let out a dark chuckle before raising the milk carton so that it was above her head and slowly tipping it. After a few seconds of Light watching in horror, the carton was tipped just enough to let a small dribble of strawberry milk out. As he tipped it farther, more milk gushed out of the carton, and he smiled in triumph.

Misa looked at Light with a confused expression on her face. "Why is it raining on me, Light-kun?" she asked worriedly. "Does the world not like me?"

"Of course it does. It's not really _raining _on you. Actually… that is milk," Light said while trying to control his snickers. She deserved it, he decided. That morning she had trash-talked a girl who had been assigned to be my math partner. I sighed as she let out a shrill scream. She really needed to learn how to control that.

Mihael let out another bout of dark laughter before turning to L, who was staring sadly at Misa's face. That had been a waste of good milk. He took a harsh bite into his chocolate-peanut butter sandwich and huffed.

Against his will, L's gaze wandered to Light. He was using every bit of self-control not laugh at her. L scoffed. Even for a bitch, she was his girlfriend. And he should not laugh at her. Even though it was common knowledge (to everyone except the girl in question) that Light did not like Misa… but still. You don't laugh at stupid people who get milk spilled on them!

That thought made him chuckle, so L figured, eh, why not laugh?

The drama was dying down as Mr. Ryukshini was giving Mello a detention, even though Mr. 'Call Me Ryuk' Ryukshini though that Misa deserved it. He was the teacher that everyone loved to hate. By being straight-forward and making crude jokes, he was many of the students' least favorite teacher of the year.

The melodramatic crying and whining from Misa did not decrease as the day went on. In fact, every time you asked her, she would tell it differently. She would look at you with her huge, blue eyes and sniff before telling the story of her she had almost drowned when Mello poured the sticky drink on her.

L, unfortunately, had to sit through every single one of these retellings. He always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Take what happens when there is silence in Matt or Mello's room, and really wanting that cake that Mello promised, and going to ask him for it when… you see your best friends doing some things…

Then obviously, you wouldn't want that cake anymore.

L shuddered at the memory and tried to concentrate on something other than _vivid _mental pictures of your two best friends or Misa - why was she taking Technology Exploration? Oh yeah… it was because _Light _was. He settled for straight ahead of him, which is where he stared until he heard one of his slower teachers call his name.

"L. L?" the teacher called out, confused. His name did manage trip up many people. Who would think that a boy would just have a letter for his first name? It was a rarity, he concurred. It shouldn't have been that big of a problem, though.

"What?" L bore his eyes into his teacher's until the teacher began to slowly recoil. L's eyes could do that to anyone. Except maybe not Watari, but L didn't have the guts to try and glare _him_ down. Not even Mello had the guts, and that is saying something.

"I told you that you are going to be partners with Mr. Yagami in your Technology Exploration lab project. Since you two are our star pupils, I want you to build a computer that has been taken apart, install Microsoft Word, and write a report on what you learned. _If _you learned anything." L rolled his eyes. Light and L nodded and shot a glance at each other, both facial expressions reading 'Piece of cake.' Except that L was now daydreaming about said piece of cake.

As the other groups were working on their simple partner projects, L and Light worked on constructing a computer. Neither of them, nor anyone else in the classroom, noticed a certain Mihael Keehl walk out the door with his cell phone attached to his ear, and him whispering into it and looking around at the other students skittishly.

"The idiot took the bait." He muttered low into the receiver, closing the door of the Tech. Ex. room behind him. It made a noise just a _bit_ too loud and the teacher looked up at who had decided it was okay to just up and leave. When he realized it was the scary blond boy haunted his dreams, he went back to emailing his fellow teachers.

"Excellent." The satisfied voice of Kiyomi Takada was on the other line. Mello could almost hear her smirk through the receiver. He laughed haughtily; if anyone could do it, _he_ could do it. "Any _friendly _glances or words going on over there?"

He heard a double of the voice behind him. Mihael turned around to look at Takada, who was standing five feet away from him. He hung up his phone and wheeled around to scowl at her. "Look for yourself!" he ordered, pointing at the door.

She obliged. Nothing was out of the ordinary, unfortunately for the two Cupids. The two teenagers were tampering with all of the computer parts lying out on the desk in front of them. Light was looking at the door with a raised eyebrow, he obviously could tell there was something up, and it was irritating him. L was glancing wistfully at the teacher's bowl of strawberries. 'I hate you' he mouthed at the older man. She snickered before looking once again, crestfallen.

"This is only day one," Mello reminded Takada, putting an arm around her shoulder condescendingly. "We still have many a plan to carry out."

She nodded. "That's true." The two went to whispering and snickering about what they would execute the next day.

In the classroom there was silence. Many of the students who had already finished doing their own simple work were looking at the two geniuses in awe. They had managed to put the computer together and were now installing the Word program. L was looking, bored, at all of them, while Light was tampering with the keyboard hook up.

"Everything is set. You can write… I'll be right back," Light said. He smiled reassuringly as he walked away from L. The black-haired genius was… brilliant, as all geniuses were. That didn't mean he was good with computers, though. He could put one together and take one apart. Of course, he didn't really know how to use one.

Light disappeared from the room just a Mello came back in. The blond smirked at and plopped down in a seat next to Matt, who was looking up at his computer screen irritated.

He really needed a cigarette or a videogame. Either of the two would satisfy him. He felt as though he was about to rip someone's head off. Mello, knowing what he needed, handed him his Nintendo DS. If Mello didn't keep it for him, Matt would play it all day in class and get into a lot of trouble. He immediately went to bashing monsters Mario-style.

L averted his gaze from is technical brothers. He needed to focus on the task at hand: opening the typing program. L scrolled though a few screens and finally got the program open. Smiling, satisfied with himself, he started typing.

'_We learned absolutely nothing; thank you for asking. We would appreciate it if you would treat all students equally in the future, no matter what their IQ. Thank you for you consideration. L and Light.'_

As soon as he finished, he noticed an oddity in the corner of his screen. There was a little paperclip man bouncing up and down. He glared at it. L was sure if it was not in his computer, and it actually existed, it would be somewhat of an ax-murderer.

He came up with his conclusion by coming up with an eighty-percent accurate background story: The paperclip with eyes was born to a woman who had been strangely seduced by a paperclip. After become pregnant, and realizing that it was from her paperclip lover, who had died tragically in a lock-picking incident, she tried to abort it, but the doctors couldn't, seeing as it was not human. She never loved or tended to the child. It killed people in vengeance of his lost childhood.

L tried to get rid of it by changing the settings, but it just wouldn't go away. The paperclip seemed to mock him as he tried everything he knew to do to get rid of it. L sighed heavily and clicked on it.

'_Is there anything I can do to help you?'_ it asked, smiling with its gruesome features. Its eyes glinted, daring L to try and kill it.

'_No,' _L typed furiously into the little text box that had appeared above it. As he did so Light came up behind him and snickered. He made a few swift clicks o the mouse and the character suddenly disappeared into oblivion.

"Print it, and we can go," he said.

L did as he was told, and left to go retrieve the papers from the printing device in the corner of the room. As he sat back down at the desk where they had built the piece of machinery, the paperclip popped onto the screen, twice as big as it had been before.

L eyes widened in shock, and as he hastily shut down the computer, he heard laughing coming from the other side of the room where a very lanky boy with black hair stood.

Oh, no. Did he really dare mess with L? Stupid boy. "Mello!" L called out with an evil glint in his eyes.

**A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews! You guys rock! This is going to be short and sweet because my mother is about to come downstairs and bludgeon us to death.**

**Uh, please review!**


	3. Ick Strangers

**Disclaimer: Not our characters. Not our anything that's not ours.**

"WHERE'S MY OTHER SHOE?"

The mornings in Wammy's House were rather chaotic. Just ask L, who had gone through it for the past however many years he had been at the orphanage.

L groaned, and attempted to roll out of bed. Some days he just had this feeling that today would be a not-so-great day. This was one of those times, because today when he woke up and saw his alarm clock… he had slept in a full fifteen minutes longer than he should have. The bus was coming in another_ fifteen_ minutes. It wasn't as though L exactly needed more than those precious fifteen minutes he had left, but he didn't enjoy rushing himself.

Mello wasn't a morning person either, but he had great potential to be one. He was just unorganized to the point where he had no idea where anything was. His room was a mess, his locker was a mess, he dressed like his life was a mess… If he hadn't been brilliant, his teachers would have labeled him off as a stoner with no concern for his future.

Near was the exact opposite. He always woke up bright and early at five-thirty, he knew where everything was, and he still had a half an hour to play with his toys before he was forced onto the school buss.

Nobody knew for sure what Matt was. He would wake up in the mornings without one single issue, and he didn't have any problem going to sleep. He wasn't an insomniac like L was, or a let-me-sleep-till-dinnertime Mello, or an it's-five-thirty-AM-and-I've-filled-my-quota-of-sleep Near. He was Matt.

L quickly dressed in his usual attire-the plain white t-shirt and blue jeans. His homework was done as it always was, and all he had left to do was grab his cup of coffee. Or at least _he _thought it was coffee. Everyone else thought it more or less resembled liquid brown sugar with a hint of espresso.

As L raced down the stairs with his backpack thrown over one shoulder and iPod in hand, he witnessed the usual morning catastrophe.

Mello was scurrying around for his missing Doc Marten as he hobbled around on his foot that was currently wearing one. Matt was playing the Wii and screaming and whining in defeat as he lost to a computer player in Wii Bowling. Near was sitting in a corner with a white puzzle, smirking evilly. Watari was preparing L's coffee.

Sometimes- _sometimes-_ L felt badly for the old man who catered to their every whim. Then he remembered that it wasn't his problem.

If L didn't love those guys to Hades and back, he would have killed himself a few times over in frustration. When Mello had first moved in, L was so irritated at him everyone was surprised when they finally became friends. He had gotten used to Mello's quirks.

L approached a chair and slumped over it, thanking Watari for the coffee and proceeding to gulp it down, ignoring the burning sensation the boiling liquid gave his tongue.

Yes, he already knew today was going to be a bad day. L tossed his ceramic coffee mug into the sink before heading up the stairs and into the bathroom to brush his teeth; he hated when he had the smell of coffee on his breath.

He had five minutes, he decided by looking at his watch. As he walked out the bathroom door, he noticed that Mello had found his shoe and was now lacing it up, Matt had shut off the Wii console and Near finished his puzzle. L walked out, not caring about his extra time, and putting his iPod speakers in his ear and started listening to one of his favorite songs.

The other three boys had followed his lead, and to their right, they saw the school bus coming around the bend. As it pulled in front of them, L realized that some _kid _was sitting in his seat. That was utter blasphemy. That seat had all but the letter L scratched onto the seat of it. Nobody but _him _sat there.

L decided on top of having an enormous IQ, he was psychic.

The only open seat was with either Takada or Light. That is, until, strangely, Mello sat himself next to Kiyomi, Matt sitting with Near, slowly inching away. L had to grin to himself as Near complained, "Why does _everyone _do that?"

He sat next to Light, ignoring him as he turned up the volume on his iPod, using his body language to tell Light that he wouldn't be sitting there if it wasn't for some stupid _kid _who took his seat.

Light ignored all of this, however, as he tapped L on the shoulder.

"What?" he asked, using all of his self control not to glare at Light. If Light was going to bother L to get out of his damn seat, he can just waste his time doing something else, because L was not moving. The only other seats that were open were the ones that the kids who believed in Shinigami sat. There was no way that L was sitting with them. He was afraid of losing valuable IQ points.

Light shrugged. "Never mind, I just realized that your normal seat was taken."

"Way to be, genius." L said sarcastically, going back to his iPod.

Light rolled his eyes and ignored him for the rest of the way, getting out hisbook and immersing himself into the world of _Alice and Wonderland_. Of course, the slim novel was hidden inside his copy of _The History of History._

Mello smirked, realizing that neither of the two boys would be able to hear him and Kiyomi talk.

"Can't you just picture them on a wedding cake together?" Kiyomi sighed, glancing between her best friend and her best friend's future husband as they completely ignored each other.

Mello chuckled. "And Light would look totally pretty in a white gown, don't you think?"

"Nuh-uh. L would be in the white gown. It doesn't matter. Neither of us will agree with each other. Let's move on; what do you think their wedding will be like?"

"Have you even _met _L? Like actually talked to him? Of course they will have plenty of cake. And chocolate. Light will plan the entire thing." Mello smirk as he said this last bit. He was going to drive it into Takada's head that he was going to be winning this bet pof theirs.

Kiyomi grinned. "Only because L won't be able to submit to his feministic self. L will be fluttering around Light the entire time, making sure that things are being done correctly."

"Sure."

"You know I'm right."

The pair stuck their tongues out at each other as the bus pulled into the bus lane at the school.

Light stood and made his way down the isle before anyone else had a chance to go before him, learning something. A cranky L was a very sarcastic and evil L. He made a mental note to not to piss off this side of L that was normally kept hidden.

The composed brunette found himself getting a little bit down. That thought continued as he saw Misa running off of her bus and smack-dab into him.

"LIIIIGGGHHTT-KUUUUN! MISA-MISA LOVES YOU AND SHE MISSED YOU YESTERDAY!" she squealed, babbling incessantly about things that didn't really matter in the slightest, like she _always _did.

He didn't even bother listening to the rest of her screaming. Normally the way she shrieked would cause people to turn around and stare, but it seemed that the whole school was used to it by now. Students only walked past them with out giving the blond a second glance.

Light joined his group of loyal friends and started walking with them to the main doors of the school building. Sometimes they were loud and obnoxious. Today was one of those days.

His friends were like school royalty. Everyone admired them; they intimidated everyone. Except for the geeks of course, but they didn't matter. No one got in their way. In fact, it was quite the opposite. They could be loud and annoying and not one person would say a word. They could wear skirts inches above the dress code standard and nothing would happen. Nothing _could_ happen. They ruled the school, almost like Gods.

Light shuffled to his locker and saw his groupies huddling around a locker near his own. It would have seemed like a normal group of girls if they hadn't been giggle just a little _too_ loudly, or if they hadn't been swaying their hips and sticking out their non-existent chests just a little too over-exaggeratedly. He sighed. Sometimes it was awful to be popular and good-looking.

Light's morning classes went on without much drama. At lunch though, the funniest thing since the milk incident happened.

As Light was seated at his table, chatting to his friends, Raye Penber and Touta Matsuda, he saw Misa walk in and sit next to him clutching an… _umbrella_?!

"Misa… why are you carrying an umbrella?" Everyone else was laughing, and not just the popular table. At the sight of a gothic Lolita Misa walking across the cafeteria with a matching Gothic Lolita umbrella frills and all, not one person- other than L- could contain their laughter.

Light snorted his water, coughing and laughing simultaneously. Takada, being the nice girl she is, simply stared and stifled her own giggles.

Misa glanced around the cafeteria, seeing everyone laughing or smiling. She beamed. "Everyone seems to be in a fantastical mood today!" Light had to restrain himself from a face palm. Misa continued talking. "I am carrying this umbrella so it doesn't rain on me again, of course!"

L's impression of Light was just getting worse and worse. The day before he had been laughing at his so-called girlfriend, and now he was trying to hold back a mean comment. L would shoot himself before he ever dated anyone like Light Yagami.

At the same time, Light was a beauty to the eye. L was not denying that in the slightest. All the females wanted that body. L just had the brains and the self-respect to see beyond those golden eyes and that flawlessly tanned skin and that perfect persona. Besides, Light was untouchable. His sphere of popularity and L's sphere of the complete nerds never were to touch.

Light let out a small chuckle before turning to his best friend, what's-her-name. L didn't know- L didn't care. L watched as she brushed Light's amber fringe off of his forehead. A small pit formed in his stomach as Light turned to where the dark-haired teen was sitting. As Light's honey eyes connected with L's own onyx pair, a small smile full of bewilderment settled onto Light's lips. L shrugged at the boy before turning just the lightest shade of pink and taking a bite of his sandwich.

Light felt odd. It's not like he normally talked to L. L was just there, an acquaintance, nothing more than that. But when L just blew him off like that, his eye twitched. He wouldn't go as far to say that he was doing a favor by noticing him, but it definitely was a privilege. Just the way L acted as if he didn't care made Light's fingers prickle. He wanted to hit something. Considering that he was quite the pacifist, it was a difficult thing to do. He ignored the sensation running through his hands to turn his attention back to his girlfriend.

Just as Light was about to open up his mouth to tell Misa to shut her umbrella, as it was bad luck, you know, to have one open indoors, the bell rang, Suddenly the cafeteria was a rush of half-developed teens practically running for the doors.

Light thought it was pathetic how everyone seemed to be in such a hurry to leave. Yes, lunch period was not his favorite either; and yes, the lunch ladies did scare him a little bit, but that didn't mean he needed to go running. Maybe it wasn't at all that they didn't like the period, he thought. Maybe it was that they were just in a rush to move on to their next moment. Light had his one sad, melancholy moment of the day before shaking his head and standing up to leave the room.

L walked into his last period class, Honor's Geometry, and saw to his dismay that there was a substitute teacher. Everyone was seated, and staring at him. L glanced at the clock...an entire three minutes and forty-one seconds late. His day just kept getting better and _better_. The teacher cleared his throat. "Please take your seat."

L took his usual seat next to Mello, who was also ignoring the scrawny excuse of a teacher sitting at the front of the room taking attendance. Mello passed him a note on a torn piece of notebook paper. "_Why are you late? You're always obscenely early!"_

L sighed and scribbled a note back. "_Jammed locker. Don't worry about it_."

Mello nodded in comprehension.

L brought out the book he was reading, _Dracul_a, and ignored everything, for it deserved to be ignored. It was being mean to him. There was an 89.236 percent chance the world was out to get the teen.

"L. L! The teacher is talking to you!" Mello hissed at the oblivious genius, whose head snapped up toward the substitute, who according to the blackboard was Mr. Aizawa.

"Yes?" L asked nonchalantly, sticking his bookmark back into the page and glancing up lazily to meet the teacher's eyes. Upon making eye contact, L decided that the poor man was stuck in the seventies with his awful afro. L wanted to rip it out.

"Are you L… La-wile-et?"

Of course.

Every single substitute teacher they had had in all L's year of attending school year could not pronounce his name. There were many sad attempts, none of them ever successful. L made his already expressionless face even more so before saying, "It's. Lawliet. LAW. LEE. ET." he groaned, and everyone chuckled. L never lost his cool. He blamed it on his bad day.

Light turned around from his seat to meet L's eyes. It didn't work though, the raven-haired oddball wasn't looking at him. It was a hit on Light's pride. Everyone looked at him.

Light was now almost officially in a bad mood. He wasn't getting looked at, for one. It didn't matter who it was, but it was rude! He always looked at people that were looking at him. True L didn't know, but it wasn't an excuse. And on top of that, the math teacher was boring him to sleep. He would say death except for that he felt really drowsy. The teacher had a baritone voice and the room was pleasantly warm. He had to lick the top of his mouth to keep himself awake.

Finally, the bell rang, breaking the silence of the quiet work time for the homework they had been assigned, and the students bolted out of the room, thankful that they were at least partially finished with their 40 question homework assignment.

Light Yagami became lost in a sea of people, not really paying attention. It felt like his legs were going in the direction of his locker, but he wasn't moving them. In his sleepy haze, he did feel a similar feeling to one of being knocked to the floor.

"Oh...Sorry Light-chan." The onyx-haired teen muttered. He started to sit up.

Light knew that voice anywhere. It was that bastard L's. "It's okay. Are you alright?" he asked sincerely. Just because he wasn't in love with the genius, that didn't mean that he needed to be particularly rude.

L was also on the floor, books spread out. "I'm fine, Light-chan."

Light groaned. "Will you quit calling me that?" He began to gather his things. A small bubble of people had formed around the two boys. All of the students around them were listening intently to the conversation, wondering why in the World Light was conversing with this strange boy.

"Actually, no, in fact, it doesn't suit me. Seriously, L. If you aren't going to call me by my actual name, just don't call me anything at all. God. I don't even know where you get your entitled attitude from." Light finished his rant and turned around to run to his locker. His face was already heating up; he hadn't meant to do that.

He as just _so_ tired and he hadn't been thinking.

Light heard L faintly call from behind him, "Whatever you say, Light-chan."

Light stiffened but kept walking to his locker. He didn't want to create even more of a spectacle of himself. He was the perfect, straight-A student with the perfect, problem-free life, Light reminded himself. He needed to keep up his image.

After dialing his combination twice, his locker door popped open and Light threw his binders into the small, organized space. Not a pencil out of place. His binders were neatly lining the bottom of his locker, and in the little space squared off at the top of his locker he had his lunch box sitting in top of three of his books.

Just as the teenager was pulling his backpack onto his shoulder, someone tapped his shoulder from behind. He flinched away from the touch. He didn't like _strangers_ touching him.

Light whipped around as he stood up to find Takada a little too close for comfort. "Sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you; I was just trying to get your attention."

Light smiled hesitantly at the girl before turning back around to shut his locker. "There must be a reason that you came to my locker? It is halfway across the school from yours." Even if Takada was his best friend, he could still be cold towards her on occasion.

Light never meant to be rude to anybody. Scratch that. Actually, he did mean to be rude whenever he was rude. He just never meant to be rude to Kyomi. Light was just in a bad mood on that particular day, and he was trying to re-situate himself inside his head. It wasn't working out so well.

Takada bit her lip. "You're having an off day, Light. Would you like to come to Excelsior?" She smiled hopefully at her friend. It was just the thing to cheer him up.

Light sighed and barely glanced at her. He had been looking forward to going home and sleeping. He would eat a meal or two, and then he would probably sleep a little bit more. Light just wanted to sleep his mood away. "I don't know. Who else are you inviting?"

Kyomi started listing off names on her fingers. "Misa...Matsuda, and you, if you'll come." She smiled rightly, hoping to encourage him to come.

Light sighed again. "Why Misa?" he asked haughtily. If Takada thought that _that_ was going to cure his bad mood, boy, was she in for a rude awakening. _Feeling uncomfortable and having a girl he couldn't stand hand off of him for a few hours… sleeping the weekend away… _Tough choice.

Takada laughed. "She misses you, Lighty." She paused and pretending to stroke her non-existent beard before exclaiming, "Gah! Oops, I meant Light-chan."

Light felt his eye twitch, but said nothing of it. He just frowned glumly. He was going to regret this… he just _knew_ he was going to regret this God-awful decision… "I'll go." Light winced as the words left his mouth. He cursed to himself.

"Light, I only call you Light-chan because L does. And L is cool."

Light wanted to say, "For a nerd!" but refrained. He just shook his head. "No, it's like he's trying to make me mad. And it works half- no, _more_ than half the time." Light grumbled. He couldn't stand that boy.

Takada giggled. "Maybe you're gay, Light!" she exclaimed. Kyomi had been sneaking comments like this into their conversation for the past few days… Light was starting to get suspicious.

Now Light's eye _did_ twitch. "Don't make me laugh. I already agreed to going, don't make me regret it." Not that he already didn't, Light thought bitterly. Just a few short hours, he had to keep on repeating to himself.

Kiyomi scowled. "Don't get sore with me! And quit talking to me like I'm Misa! I'm not the one you have issues with so don't take it out on me!" Oh, yeah. That's why Light was never nasty to Takada.

Light nodded. "Sorry Kiyomi. I'm just...a little out of character today."

"I can tell." She nodded sympathetically. "How about we get out of here," she suggested quietly. Patience was key in their friendship.

Kyomi took Light's hand and the two made their way through the now mostly empty hallways. The two walked slowly, not rushing, as Takada pondered Light's mysterious attitude and Light tried to sort through his brain.

L shouldn't be affecting him. At all. No one could make him yell except for that awful boy. No one could make him happy like that retched asshole. L hadn't even done anything to Light. There was no reason to hate him… other than the fact that he was, well, L.

Light turned to his friend and smiled as they stopped in front of the building's main doors. Light pulled open the door for Takada to walk through, trying to make up for his earlier rude attitude. The girl thanked Light and walked out slowly. It was as if the two teenagers were on an awkward first date. Light didn't know what to say; Takada didn't know what to say.

Finally Takada broke the silence. "Hey, here comes your girlfriend, Lighty."

* * *

A/U: Carrie: Sorry for the long update wait! We tried to make it a longer chapter because of it. School started, and you all know what that means: Junk happens. I have lost all my wits trying to stay on top of everything. That includes my feet. Anyway, then we were getting hardwood floors, so I was out of the house for two weeks!

Little snippets of info:

-Excelsior is the equivalent, if not even more popular than, Starbucks in Japan.

-"Way to be," is my new phrase. Sooo… if you want to be more like crazy old me, use it.

-We do know the actual pronunciation of L's last name. We like this one better, so shoot us.

-We love you all!!

Audilee: This chapter took forever and a day. Whew. And sorry for lack of update! There's something called 'middle school' that gets in the way frequently D: But here it is! We are not abandoning anything! XD Yep. That's all I'mma say.

Last thing from both of us! You review, and you get a quote from the next chapter…


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